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Friday, January 23, 2015

Portal Entry round 2 continues.. slowly..

The deadline for the project is fast approaching ( Monday at midnight is what we were last told! ). And as such, I think I took on far too much of an ambitious project than I realized. Especially with my normal daily schedule being needed to be worked on!

But progress I have made since the last post on it!

Here is what the base looked like with the initial sketches applied, and some extreme highlights applied to give it a sense of direction. Of course it cannot stay this way as the project is to be about a post apoc like area, that has plenty of weathering on it!

Well in the area of extras for the base I started with a simple weathering technique I picked up ( or refined would be a better word ) with John at one of his Weekend Workshops. Process was simple enough.

Spray down a couple different rust like colors with the airbrush.

Spray down 2-3 layers of heavy chipping fluid. Ensuring to let it dry fully, and naturally between the layers ( using a hairdryer removes the activator or whatever in the chipping medium and ruins the effect ).

Spray down my main colors ( in this case army green? )

Pick out the details and do some layers for some highlights as well.

Then taking a warm, stiff brush, slowly rub off the top layers of paint from the pieces. Exposing the rusty colors below.

And Voila! Rusty pieces ready for the dio!

Though they look a bit ... um.. stark in contrast to the rest of the alleyway.. and everything is still looking very clean. Too clean rather..

This is where I began to really experiment on how to continue with this. Especially with the bricks on the path ( which I took several attempts at! ).

Unfortunately due to it being experimental, I don't have so many photos.. but the general premise of the steps were the below:

Take out several different pigment powders. Apply them directly to the base without water and rub or dump them into the cracks and sides of the wall.. Rubbing them in with a stiff brush once more.

Add a bit of pigment fixer to some areas ( mostly cracks ) and then dump some more on top

Add some AK interactive Rust Liquid on areas. It doesn't come across as full rusty, but more dirty and muddy even on this scene.

Add more pigments.. just start throwing them on top of each other, and work them into the base.

Take some Modelmates Sand Liquid Pigments, thinned a bit with water, and begin to layer that on the bricks..

Beginning to like the effects!

Add more pigments :) Rub them in some more.

As you can see it is a very scientific method to the madness going on here.. but when it was all said and done.. the piece looked more together and definitely dirtier with the pigments and liquids applied.

The AK Interactive stuff really helped on the signs though. Just a tough of it, and then worked with a damp brush and it spread out nicely. Making the chipped aspects look more real. Spreading the color out a bit, while still making the chipped parts stand out ( in some cases ... I overdid it a few times! ).

Now I begin to work on the models themselves.. you can see the Ottoman standing in his alleyway ( though not fixed yet ) waiting for the trader to arrive.. oh and his mount ( whom I hope to finish! ).

Quick work on the models themselves ( amazing how fast 28mm scale pieces are to paint compared to 1/6 scale busts! ).

Looking forward to seeing how the scene builds up, and what else I can push into it yet.

Hope you enjoy this so far, and expect some more ( final ) photos next week! Enjoy the weekend in the meantime!

Just different. Maybe because of the GitS pictures I expected something more like it with the overwhelming count of signs and stuff. But I will not say if good or bad because I just can't tell.Have the goblin also at home that's why I asked. Thought I know the miniature from somewhere :)

Ah yeah.. I was thinking about adding more signs, but it got a bit too overwhelming and took over the scene. So I had to limit them a bit more.. though there is space for maybe one or 2 more.. will look into it for the future updates potentially on it. Or maybe a future piece :D

I think I'm going to pick up some chipping fluid for the stompa. You can still do brush work over the chipping fluid right? I'm worried about having to put some metallics back on and knocking off the salt. I guess I could do both!

Heh. The chipping fluid is great, but you don't need to use salt for it. It is more of a "spray on" let dry, and then wash off in sections to get the effect. Just make sure you paint some nice random rust colors underneath first.

As for can you do brush work on top.. of course! Again just make sure it is fully dry first before you attempt it! Else you will brush off the bottom layer as well as the top.. and be left with just the bare metal/plastic!

Cheers Michael. It is interesting to look back and see how it was done. Upside of taking lots of WIP photos I guess! Though I do need to get in the habit of taking them with my proper camera instead of my cell phone!